Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel.
I am pleased to participate in this debate. First of all, I wish to state that this budget is completely unacceptable and that Quebeckers agree on two things. The budget does not respect the consensus of the National Assembly of Quebec, which passed a unanimous motion containing several points. I would like to remind members that the motion addressed several points, including two very important ones: maintaining the equalization system—that is, not changing the formula—and not proceeding with the implementation of a pan-Canadian securities commission. The unanimous motion of the Quebec National Assembly is supported by a great number of people and there is a broad consensus in Quebec on this matter.
As the member of parliament for a riding hit hard by various cuts to the manufacturing sector, I note that this budget does not contain significant measures to support workers who have lost their jobs and who must make great efforts to find employment in a sector and an area where, every month, a plant closes or finds itself in trouble.
I would like to mention that, since 2005, the riding of Beauharnois—Salaberry has lost almost 3,000 jobs concentrated in a regional county municipality where the economy was based on a manufacturing sector with good, well-paid jobs and unionized workers. Their wages were spent on goods, houses, renovations, and taxes and kept the economy rolling in our area. In our city, the closing of the Goodyear plant alone eliminated wages worth $85 million last year. To have a better idea of what this means, imagine motorcycle and watercraft vendors, renovators, builders, retailers as well as all merchants and contractors affected by the elimination of $85 million in wages. And I have only mentioned Goodyear.
Just two weeks ago, Rio Tinto Alcan announced the early closure of its factory. The community was preparing for the closure of the Beauharnois factory, but only in two years' time—the time it would take for the community, economic development players and elected officials to come up with solutions that would enable workers to find other employment. But now, everyone is caught a bit off guard by Rio Tinto Alcan's unacceptable decision. Good, salaried jobs are being lost in the city of Beauharnois. This city has seen its factories leave one after the other and in the past two weeks has learned that 250 workers will be out of work.
I do not want to make a defeatist speech because our region is bursting with very dynamic stakeholders, players and elected officials who are capable of attempting to re-ignite the local economy, of rolling up their sleeves and of trying to entice investors and promoters to our area, which has its assets. It is the only municipal port in Canada; there is a highway and there are trains. We are well-situated, but it will take us more than one or two years to build the infrastructure and attract new businesses.
While we are waiting for the elected officials and the economic development players to do their work, we must support the workers who have lost their jobs because they had decent salaries that allowed them to buy consumer goods and meet their financial commitments.
Following the recent Rio Tinto Alcan closure, 50 of the 250 workers were hired by an agency.
The unionized Alcan workers in Beauharnois made that compromise so that the plant would not have to close its doors for another two or three years, as they were promised. They were willing to make those compromises in their collective agreement and, unfortunately, agree to an agency. Since then, there have been two classes of workers in the plant.
Despite the union's compromises—as I said—nothing stopped Rio Tinto Alcan in Beauharnois from reneging on its commitments and hastily closing the plant. Some 50% of the people hired by the agency were former Goodyear workers. These workers have now been through two major layoffs in two years. That is very tough for people to handle.
I do not know whether the members are able to close their eyes and imagine what they would do if they lost their jobs tomorrow. They would no longer be getting paid, and they would have to wait two weeks before collecting employment insurance benefits. We make reasonable money, so we can save a little. But for factory workers, even those taking home a good wage, it is hard to save money.
Nowadays, in my riding, workers call to tell me that, unfortunately, they did not work enough hours to qualify for employment insurance benefits. That is why I think that the unemployed are one of this budget's glaring omissions. The government may be using other measures or services to stimulate the economy, but the unemployed have nevertheless been forgotten and they need support during this crisis.
I would like to provide two specific examples in an attempt to reach the members opposite. We hear a lot of numbers and statistics, but this is about human beings, about people who are appealing to us, the members who live in ridings that are economically dependent on manufacturing.
I want to share some stories with you, but I am not going to make the same mistake that the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke made before the holidays, when she read emails from her constituents. She read them in their entirety, even though they contained racist, discriminatory, completely unacceptable, unparliamentary language. In spite of all that, the member took the liberty of reading them in this House. Needless to say, the disparaging comments in the emails were directed at the Bloc members. I will take the high road and summarize the emails I received, because Bloc members also get blasphemous emails criticizing the Conservative government and members. But because we behave responsibly and respectfully in this House, I will not follow that member's example. I hope the Speaker will soon make a ruling prohibiting such unparliamentary practices.
I would like to tell you a story about employment insurance that touched me deeply. A single mother came to my office to tell me that she did not qualify for employment insurance because she was missing five hours, just five hours. I had to tell her that for years, the Bloc and many social stakeholders and unions in Quebec have been calling for changes to employment insurance, but that the Conservatives have unfortunately turned a deaf ear.
I have a message for the government, because of the stories I have heard, like this single mother's and another woman's too. When this woman, who had recently given birth, went back to work, she was unfortunately laid off, but she did not qualify for employment insurance because she did not have enough hours. That is too bad, but it is women who give birth. We are still being discriminated against because the Employment Insurance Act is not geared to women. They do not go back 104 weeks to see how many hours this woman accumulated; they just look at how many hours she worked. It is one more injustice.
If the government really wants to support the unemployed, it should act quickly to change and improve the employment insurance program.